Sunny Allis (they/them) is a trans/non-binary multimedia artist. Their artistic works focus on cultivating community and connection through different forms of play and storytelling. Sunny studied directing and design for theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and received their MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Integrated Media.
Sunny is passionate about engaging people’s voices and visions so they feel empowered as change-makers, transforming themselves and the world around them. Bringing a unique, dynamic ability to work across a variety of artistic disciplines, Sunny tells stories and guides audiences through new worlds, experiences, and emotions. They provide a fresh, original voice that is highly imaginative, intersectional, and centers joyful freedom.
Their paintings, sculptures, immersive environments and animations have been featured in galleries both in solo and group exhibitions. They have created interactive public art installations that take people through imaginary worlds and immersive environments at Occidental College, the City of Santa Monica, and Kidspace Children’s Museum, among other organizations. Their animations have won awards internationally, including at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Madrid Experimental Film Festival, and the Linoleum Festival in Moscow.
They’ve worked with the Bread and Puppet Theater, Great Small Works Toy Theater Company, and were a member of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra — a 40-piece social justice street band which plays in and accompanies protests and marches in New York City. They have worked for more than a decade as an arts educator in K-12 schools and with community organizations of all backgrounds, teaching classes in sculptural storytelling, world building, musical performance, recycled art assemblage, puppetry, and public art. They currently teach an art and activism class at Hampshire College.
Sunny authored and illustrated a bilingual children’s book called Hooray, What A Day!/¡Viva,Qué Día!, which follows ten-year old non-binary Frankie and their best friend Jesse through a joyful day in their queer and colorful community. The book has been included in Gender Inclusive Classrooms' curriculum resource list of books for teachers who want to foster safe, welcoming gender-inclusive classrooms.
